Synopsis: Scores of children across the country do not read with comprehension, and literacy has become a national priority. In Literacy Matters, internationally recognized author, educational coach, and consultant Robin Fogarty defines and reviews 15 practical literacy approaches that teachers can use across all content areas and grade levels to help students develop essential literacy skills. This user-friendly resource provides strategies for immediate implementation with an overview of the research and best practices associated with each strategy. With an easy-to-use menu that enables teachers to select the specific strategies they want to use to boost content-area literacy and comprehension, this valuable guide explores proven instructional methods such as: teaching meta-cognitive student thinking; creating literature circles; involving parents and community; tapping into prior knowledge; and using technology to impact literacy acquisition. Put these strategies to use in your classroom, and watch as your students improve their reading and comprehension, and apply these tools for success across content areas and in their lives!

Review: More suited to the US market than the UK, this book baffles you with theory. The discussion on meta-cognitive reflections and schema theory may be of interest to educational psychologists. The strategies suggested are basically sound but, I did not find the menu easy-to-use or Literacy Matters as a whole particularly user-friendly, as it claims on the back cover blurb. Even after reading the introduction that explained how to learn with meta-cognitive reflections, I found it quite heavy-going and I have a behavioural sciences degree. This book may be useful to Literacy specialists wanting to extend their own learning but, I would not recommend it as a practical guide to use within the classroom.

2007-03-19